Maryland Could Cut Transit Funding, Citing Budget Gap

A proposal to cut 8 percent of Maryland’s transportation budget has transit advocates worried that the cuts will impact projects like Baltimore’s Red Line and overall transit service.

As Jared Brey notes in Governing, “The problems that Maryland is confronting — including higher transportation costs and lower revenues from declining ridership and shrinking gas tax collections — are familiar across the country.” Gas tax revenues, a major source of funding for transportation budgets, is becoming a less reliable cash cow as more drivers switch to electric and hybrid vehicles. But Maryland transit advocates hoped the governor would protect transit projects.

A draft financial plan released by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) in September includes cuts to bus lines with low ridership but promises to stay on track with current capital projects like the Purple Line. However, Brey points out that “Even if the budget proposal is meant to preserve the Red Line and other projects, the broader cuts could affect them indirectly” since “State and local matching funds and ridership projections are key components for getting federal help and both could be affected by budget and service cuts.”